The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1887-03-11
WRECKED IN A wAsHoUT.

l4OOlSy AdfEtL IA S6E1OuS HlCGA3
caused by a washout, occurred at Joachim
creek, on the Iron Mountain railroad Sat
urday night, by which two persons lost
their lives and several were more or less
seriously injured.
The dead were: Henry Byron, aged
about thirty years, an unmarried resident
of De Soto, Mo-, and an unknown man,
whose body was carried away in the rush
ing waters of the creek, which caused the
washout and the accident.
The injured, so far as ascertained, were
as follows:
VaIto Altmeyer, Columbus, O.; serious
contusions about the head and body.
Antonio Patella, Italy, a laborer, passen-
ger for Texarkana; cOntusions about the
face, head and lower limbs.
Frank Burns, st. Louis, one of the bag
gage-masters; slight cut in the face.
Lou Kelley, engineer; severe contusions
about the face and body and toes of left
foot crushed and badly bruised.
Frank Hatch, De Soto, fireman; several
painful contusicns of the back and body.
j. H Baldwin, Jamestown, N Y; cut in
hand and wrist.
J. H Titcomb San Jose, Cal left hand
cut.
S. P. Beck, Point Burnside, KY; con-
tusiOns about head and face.
William Fontaine, news agent on the
train; cOntusiOns about the head and
face.
The body of Mr.. Byron was found in the
smoking-car after the water had subsided.
He had been drowned and was not
bruised or mutilated in any way. The
body was allowed to remain in the coach
until three o'clock in the afternoon of yes
terday. when it was taken to De Soto and
given in charge of the company's under
talzer, Mr.. Robert CoxweI The unknown
body was not recovered, it supposedly
6oa in flood
Those perso ons injured were given the
necess sary medical attention, and some of
them were brought to St Louis and sent
to the Missouri Pacific hospital for treat
ment.
A HERO OF TIE WRECK:
P H. Fitzgerald, one of the passengers,
said: II am conductor formerly from
the New York q New England railroad,
but for the past two years and half have
been a conductor on the st. Louis, Iron
Mountain & Southern railroad. Twas on
my way home from St. Louis to Bismarck,
where 1 reside. Just before we ran
on the trestle 1 was sitting
in a seat talking with Joe Guion, the con-
| ductor of the train, and George Herbert,
| conductor of the local freight, who was
| going home to spend Sunday, after taking
| his run into St. Louis Saturday evening.
| We were talking about the high water,
| and Herbert said it would be wonder II
| we did not have some wrecks tonight.
| He had only finished saying this when the
| shock came, and Guion said: we have
! got it now,' and he turned to me and said :
| 'Good-bye Fitz,' and we shook hands and
parted to save ourselves as best we could.
| As soon as I saw the water we started
! back through the car. All the other pas
/ sengers had left their seats in wild cOnfu-
sion, and when I found could not pass
! along the aisle 1 climbed over the backs OF
! the seats and called out: Break out the
windows and go out at the side / kicked
! out window when the water was up to
nv waist and climbed on the window sill,
but could not reach to climb on top, until
! Conductor Guion, who had followed the
same course of action, had succeeded IN
/ reaching the top of the car (because
| he was taller and could reach the ventila
/ tori gave me his assistance. then heard
/ Herbert call my name from the end OF the
| car which wa deepest in the water, say
| ing: tFitz, for Gods sake, help me out!
succeeded in getting him on top, and he
| then held my hand while pulled up three
others from the same car, and some one
else helped me pull up two more from that
side
We then went to the other side, where
we rescued four more in the same way
There were twelve of US on the top of the
car, and we were fifty feet from land.
The water must have been atleast ten feet
deep. Conductor Guion and consulted
what we should do. l asked him If he
could swim and he only said: It's bad
CASE
took off all my heavy clothes three
times to swim out but others said wait
Guion asked: Can you get to shore
Fitz?' and l answered, Yes; l can make
| it. Finally when the car commenced u
roll and swing down with the current as
! if it was about to jump and swim ashore
| and, before doing so, we shook hands anc
said sgood-bye' He jumped and l fol
lowed him. Guion caught limb OF {
tree and succeeded in climbing into the
tree and got from there to shore. die
not catch the tree but went down with
the current some distance and succeeded
in swimming to shore. 1t was broken
and very rapid current. was Ioi
lowed by Conductor Herbert and pas
senQer. Herbert caught in the tree ant
the passenger followed me to shore
We then got the bell rope Z
the car hy throwing the rope t
Herbert in the tree and he threw it to thu
| car where it was made fast We first sen
an axe over the rope to the car and cut
hole in the top of the car. All the pasSen
, gers were landed by this rope and raft
which was made afterward, except on
man, who was drowned in the car an
who is the only one posltlVeI
known to have perished. A
soon as we got to the top of the car W
called to those at the rear of the tram
go back and flag the Belmont train, whic
was following close, and saw the brake
man 90 back After we got the passeT
gers off the top of the smoker, the brake
man came to me and said Engineer Kene
and his fireman, Hatch, were down tn
stream on a tree. He had heard them call
ing when he came in after tagging M
: COS We got a ladder from farm hous
> and tied a plank to the ladder an
/ swan with it AMI brought the fireman
, | in from among some bushes, and after
! ward made seven different attempts, an'
: finally succeeded with the assistance o
! another man, whose name do not know
! but he is the section foreman at Hema
: tite) in rescuing a passenger name
Beck. who was lodged in tree. Abou
this tiIne assistance came from DeSot6
and the work of rescuing those in danger
TeJaased From Peril.